Sex education should be taught at Palomar
College is the time when students embrace their freedom and start tasting the idea of being an adult. It is an exciting time for many with little limitation but with that can come many consequences like unprotected sex.
One in every four college students has an STD. Whether they know or not is the daunting part. I think that all colleges should be responsible and have available a Sex Education class each semester. Especially when nearly half of the 19 million new STDs each year are among young people aged 15–24 years says the Center for Disease Control Prevention (CDC). Those ages are around the time students are in college.
Students mostly get STD’s because of lack of knowledge. Whether it’s the lack in how to use protection or believing common myths, colleges should fill in the blanks for students and correct the problem. Condoms and birth control are effective if one knows how to use them. Only 60% of women know how to use a condom correctly and a whopping 60% also say they would still have sex even if their partner
refused to wear a condom. That is one of the biggest problems. Students may be using protection but they are not using it correctly. Birth control like pills, shots, diaphragm or any other method needs to be takes as instructed, and none of these protect from STD’s.
The Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is on the rise, 91 percent of women have HPV mostly because men don’t get symptoms and it can take up to 2 years for a woman to start noticing,says the CDC.
It is funny to me when I hear men or woman say that they can tell when someone has an STD because you can’t. It is not written on someone’s forehead, that is a myth. Another myth is that as long as you use protection you won’t get an STD but it is still possible.
Colleges should also educate students on that binge drinking can lead to un-protected sex. Over 45% of college freshmen who have been binge drinking and under the influence of alcohol failed to consider the usage of contraceptive aids when engaging in sexual intercourse,according to the CDC.
If sex education classes are available in colleges that doesn’t mean a student has to take it. It’s a class, so students can still choose no not add it in their semester schedule. I know we have health 100 but they only briefly explain STD’s we need a class that goes into the dynamic, teach the students how to use a condom, correct the myths that are out there about sex. Teach students that sex is not something to be taken lightly.But I still think it should be enforced for all students to take a Sex Education class at least once. I mean we have venture classes that teach how to cook, make pottery and knit. I would think you can replace one for a sex education class; no one’s dying over knitting. Colleges need to realize that STD’s are a big problem among college students and they need to take action.